The Pagan Left

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Ante Diem IV Kalendas January

Modern Date : December 29th

Ante Diem IV Kalendas January Fourth Day to the Kalends of January

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

In Egypt, this was celebrated as the Birthday of Ra, the Sun God, whom the Romans knew as Helios. Ra (Helios) had a temple at Heliopolis that covered 441 square kilometers, with 64 orchards, 103 villages, and 12,693 personnel.

This day continues the Halcyon days, or the period of celebration and goodwill associated with the beginning of winter and the new solar year.

Decima, the middle Fate in charge of the present, presides over December, but the month may have received its name as the tenth month of the Roman calendar. Vesta, patroness of fire also laid claim to the month of December.

RaThe most important of the Egyptian gods, the personification of the (midday) sun. According to the Heliopolitan cosmology he created himself from a mound that arose from the primeval waters of Nun or out of a primordial lotus flower. He then created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn engendered the earth-god Geb and the sky-goddess Nut. Re was said to have created humankind from his own tears and the gods Hu and Sia from blood drawn from his own penis.

The sun itself was taken to be either his body or his eye (the 'Eye of Ra'). The center of his cult was from the very beginning in Heliopolis, where he was also venerated in the forms of Atum (the setting sun) and Khepri (the rising sun) and, in connection to the morning sun, as Ra-Harachte. As Ra-Atum he is the creator who gives light and warmth and thus growth. Re was often combined with other deities to enhance the prestige of the latter, as in Ra-Atum or Amun-Ra.

It was said that Re traveled each day in his solar barque through the sky, starting in the morning. At night, Ra journeyed through the underworld in another barque. And each night, the monster Apep would try to prevent the sun-god from emerging again: the eternal battle between light and darkness. The gods Seth and Mehen accompanied him and were often depicted defending Ra's barque. Others believed that Ra could be found at night in the underworld, consoling and giving support to the dead. Ra is also the god of the pharaohs and since the fourth dynasty the Egyptian kings styled themselves 'sons of Ra'. After death, the monarch was said to ascend into the sky to join the entourage of Ra.

St. Thomas a BecketIn the Roman Catholic calendar, this is the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, Chaucer's "hooly blisful martyr" of the Canterbury Tales, whose cathedral was and is the most visited Christian pilgrimage site in England. St. Thomas a Becket's story of fatal defiance to the will of Henry the Lion is still one of the most oft-retold dramas of spiritual honor and sacrifice.

Vohu ManahIn the Zoroastrian calendar, festival of the creator and protector of animal life, Vohu Manah, one of the seven male and seven female emanations of the Deity.

Ante Diem IV Kalendas January

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

In Greece this was known as Arachne's Day. Arachne was a princess of Lydian Colophon, famous for its purple dyes. She was so skilled in the art of weaving that Athena herself could not compete with her. In a vengeful rage, Athena turned her into a spider.

The Christians claim that on this day King Herod, old, ill, and dying, slaughtered all the first-born male children in Bethlehem in an attempt to prevent the "newborn king" from growing up and taking away his throne 18 years or so later, long after he would be dead. Herod died in 4 BCE. Josephus wrote a detailed biography of Herod that included all of his achievements, family intrigues, and his embittered death. Josephus describes Herod's "monstrous" plan to slaughter the innocent leading men from all the major towns of Judea so as to ensure mourning upon his death. The order was prevented from being carried out by his wife. Josephus conspicuously makes no mention of what would have been a greater crime, the slaughter of innocent male children. The similarity of these incidents suggests the latter myth was an embellishment of the former incident by Christian raconteurs.

Decima, the middle Fate in charge of the present, presides over December, but the month may have received its name as the tenth month of the Roman calendar. Vesta, patroness of fire also laid claim to the month of December.

Celtic Festival of Wine and PleasureGwyl o Gwin a Hyfrydwch, the Festival of Wine and Pleasure, begins at sundown and continues until December 31st. Also in Celtic and other ancient European traditions, this is considered the unluckiest day of the year, when no work should be done, no new enterprises should be started, no new approaches made.

Ta ChiuThe Taoists celebrate Ta Chiu, a festival of peace and renewal by summoning all their gods and ghosts to the temple to accept offerings. The priests read off a list of all the people in the area at the end of the festival and attach it to a paper horse. When burned, the names are carried to heaven by the smoke.

Holy Innocents DayThis day commemorates the Holy Innocents, the infant martyrs killed on the orders of King Herod, who was determined to find and destroy the Christian Messiah who had reportedly been born three days earlier.

All of the two-year old boys who were massacred by Herod in his attempt to kill the rumored Messiah who had been born in Bethlehem, were declared martyrs by the early Christian church and are considered the patrons of choir boys.

In medieval English cathedrals, a choir boy was dressed up as the bishop on this day, in a reversal of roles similar to that found in Hari No Kuyo (December 12) and Saturnalia (December 17). Like the Lord of Misrule, who rules at Saturnalia (and again on Twelfth Night, January 6), the Boy Bishop ordered around his superiors and made fun of their authority. Mock Masses were celebrated which were full of bawdiness and rowdiness. Eventually the Church suppressed these customs. According to Matthews(The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas), the Boy Bishop was elected on St Nicholas Day (December 6) and ruled until Holy Innocents Day.

Traditionally this is the unluckiest day of the year, and the day of the week on which it falls is unlucky throughout the coming year. Since it is a day of bad omen, don't do anything new on this day, like starting a new project or wearing new clothes.